Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Alexis Grace, a gone-too-soon finalist on Idol Season 8, is apparently working on a debut album.

Earlier this week, Alexis tweeted that she has started a Facebook music page to keep fans up to date on her album news.

The profile on that page indicates she hopes to release an album in 2013.

She even indicated she’d like to include a cover song on the album and asked fans for suggestions, which ranged from “Friends Forever” to “Faith” by George Michael.

Some smart alec even suggested Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” the song that got Alexis booted off 11th place on Idol three years ago.

Up until that point, she appeared to be one of the most talented performers on the show. Certainly one of the top female singers, cruising into the finals with a scorching version of “I Never Loved a Man,” then continuing the momentum with “Dirty Diana.”

But Grand Ole Opry Week proved her undoing and she departed Idol one spot shy of making the summer tour.

Alexis, now 25, has continued to perform, starring as Roxie Hart in a Memphis Theatre production of “Chicago” that was impressive enough to earn her a nomination for best actress in a musical at a recent Memphis theater awards show.

Earlier this year, she appeared in the new Finalists Live show at the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, alongside former Idol contestants Siobhan Magnus, Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo.

And next month — Sept. 23 — she’ll be performing in a Celebrate Motown show in Frostburg, Md., with season eight colleagues Lil Rounds, Michael Sarver and Anwar Robinson from Season 4.

Meanwhile, keep an eye on that Facebook page for album news. It would be great to get new music from Alexis, even four years after her Idol appearance.